I know this question has been asked a lot. We really want to start weaning our son off the bottle...he's 20 months old. The ONLY time he gets a bottle is at bedtime and usually once in the night. I think the bedtime bottle would be fairly easy to get rid of. We can replace the bottle with a bedtime story or some other bedtime routine and I'm pretty sure he would be fine. The problem is that he is STILL waking up once a night for a bottle. He is SLOWLY transitioning...he will sleep through the night for a few nights, then wake up a few nights, then back to sleeping through the night. It's basically a 50/50 thing. So, my question is how do we get rid of the "middle of the night" bottle? I'm not a big fan of the cry-it-out method, but am willing to try it if that's what it takes. But I also don't want to deprive him of the bottle if he truly is hungry. I have tried just rocking with him when he wakes up, but he just throws a fit because he wants the bottle. Any suggestions?
Put water in the bottle for the middle of the night. He'll lose interest quickly!
Also, I wouldn't eliminate his milk before bedtime but change it from a bottle to a sippy cup of milk (you can serve it warmed) and a snack. (Cereal, fruit, cookies, etc.)
If he is wanting a bottle in the middle of the night, you need to decide if it's hunger or he's just thirsty............I would ask him if he is awake enough, if not, then try to give him some more food at supper or maybe change the bottle for a night type healthy snack..........dried fruit or something he can eat........
See if that helps.........it sounds to me that he is hungry......but who knows..........
If he drinks out of a sippy cup and you trust that, you could sit a sippy near him in his room so he can wake up, get a drink and go back to sleep...........just make sure he doesn't get too much water or juice to spill everywhere.
Good Luck and take care.
We went with the water thing too. We just slowly mixed his milk with water until we just went with all water. He didn't like it at first and pitch a fit and I have to say, I gave in a few time as I don't like the cry it out method either. I have twin boys and even now I let them have a sippy cup of water every night and they are 4yrs old. It mostly a security thing. One boy has it every night and they other one only asks for it when he is thirtsy. It can take a few weeks of getting use to, but it will happen. Hang in there mom. Transitions are never much fun.
So interesting and mirrors our issue - I believe we give it to him as a comfort thing it sounds so terrible and a vicious cycle but we both work full time have another older sibling - ugh, what to do?!?!
We have a seventeen month old who was no where near as easy about the weaning thing as my 4.5 year old son...several months ago (like 7) I decided that enough was enough with the middle of the night feedings...she still wakes up 1-2 nights/week...she is definitely not starving at that time of night (and I assume your son is not starving either) for anything other than attention. We do CIO -which took me a while to be okay with, she actually screams - it lasts for 2 minutes at most, I ignore it, she goes back to sleep every time.
Oh, I do put a sippy cup of water in her crib - sometimes she drinks it, usually it is completely full in the morning.
I agree with Denise P.
We began giving my son a sippy of water (the no spill kind) in his crib with him. He does just fine with that.
At that age I definitely don't think he's actually hungry. As long as he is getting all of his nutrients during the day there really isn't a need for the middle of the night bottle. What I did with my son when he was still waking up for a bottle was I just gave him his bottle but with a couple ounces of water in it instead. He'd drink maybe an ounce of water then go back to sleep, then he wouldn't wake up again. If he did it the next night I did the same thing. After 2 nights he stopped waking up. I guess he knew he was going to get water and didn't want that. Now that he's older I just put a sippy cup of water in his crib and he does fine with that. Good luck!
